Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, rebuffed Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court in his request to keep two accused priests' personnel files private, now must turn those documents over to a grand jury and face the growing possibility that he may soon be forced to relinquish more confidential church records involving alleged sexual abuse.
Attorneys for the Los Angeles archbishop had argued that all communication between a bishop and his priests -- including that about allegations of sexual abuse and resulting investigations -- was protected under the 1st Amendment. In declining to hear his case, the Supreme Court effectively let stand a California appellate court decision that rejected the constitutional claim.
This was good news for prosecutors, who said their inability to view such confidential records had hampered their investigation of two priests. The documents initially will remain part of secret grand jury proceedings but could become public later in criminal court.
"This will send a message that these sorts of records, this sort of information is not something they can keep secret and away from a lawful prosecution," said Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. "We're entitled to go get the evidence where the evidence exists."
Church officials called the court's decision disappointing.
"We accept the court's ruling," archdiocesan officials said in a statement. "This ruling will have no effect on the ongoing efforts of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to settle the civil cases through mediation."
Because of the statute of limitations, only two Los Angeles priests face possible criminal charges. But the archdiocese has been named in more than 500 civil cases, filed by people who say they were molested by priests or others working in the church.
After three years of private mediation talks, a judge in November placed 44 civil cases on track for trial later this year. Attorneys have requested priests' files for the cases but said they haven't yet received a response from the archdiocese.
The high court's refusal to step in Monday may have a bearing on those cases too, constitutional law experts said.
"The bottom line is, the same principle will apply in the civil and criminal cases," said Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at Duke Law School.
A church spokesman declined to say whether Mahony would fight the release of priest files in the civil cases.
